(The Associated Press circulated the following article on January 9.)
PORTLAND, Maine –Service on the Downeaster passenger train could be extended from Portland to Brunswick as soon as 2010 if federal funds for the project become available later this year.
The Maine Department of Transportation is seeking $1 million to $2 million from the upcoming federal budget for preliminary engineering and design work.
If the money comes forward, it would be the first concrete step toward extending the Amtrak train’s service since it began running between Portland and Boston in December 2001.
The Portland-to-Brunswick route became eligible for the Federal Transit Administration’s New Start Program last summer when it was identified as a project worthy of future funding.
The total cost of upgrading the train route is estimated at about $70 million, said Ronald Roy, Maine’s director of passenger transportation.
If the project receives the money in the next federal budget, it could be available as early as October. If more federal money becomes available in the near future and an aggressive timeline is set, Downeaster service to Brunswick could start within four to five years, Roy said.
“We’re ready to go,” he said. “We just have to be tenacious.”
As proposed, the project involves upgrading old tracks and installing new ones from the train station in Portland through the city. The route would then run along the former St. Lawrence and Atlantic line through Falmouth, Cumberland, Yarmouth and Freeport to Brunswick.
If the federal government appropriates $1 million to $2 million this year, Maine taxpayers would match 20 percent from about $8 million the state has set aside for the extension project, Roy said.
Ridership on the Downeaster rebounded in 2005 after showing declines in the two years after its first full year of operation in 2002.
The increasing ridership, along with the desire to provide commuter rail service for towns north of Portland, make it a good time to move forward with the project to Brunswick, said Patricia Douglas, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, the agency that contracts with Amtrak to operate the Downeaster.
“The will is definitely there to do it,” Douglas said. “It really comes down to when the money is available.”